The Business Advisory Blog

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Insight, news and updates from Alliott NZ Chartered Accountants, Auckland New Zealand. The views expressed here are the views of the author and should be discussed in further detail should an article be relevant to your individual circumstances.

While every effort has been made to provide valuable, useful information in this publication, this firm and any related suppliers or associated companies accept no responsibility or any form of liability from reliance upon or use of its contents. Any suggestions should be considered carefully within your own particular circumstances, as they are intended as general information only.

Mobile payments are the way of the future.

It’s predicted that by the end of this year, mobile payment transactions in the US will grow 210%. As mobile payments become the preferred method, small businesses need to keep up.

How Apple Pay works with Xero

Xero customers that offer Stripe as a payment service will have Apple Pay enabled automatically on their invoices. You don’t have to do anything on your end. Customers who have Apple Pay will get a prompt to confirm their credit card payment using Touch ID. They won’t even have to enter their credit card details.

For more information on how to set up Stripe for your business, go here.

What this means for your business

Apple Pay is one of the many ways Xero helps you get paid faster. We all know cash flow is the most important metric in your business. Even more important than whether or not you’re profitable.

“Before I started using Xero, I was just too busy to effectively manage cash flow and payroll. The wheels were coming off despite the fact that business was going well,” said Ryan Pinke, the owner of Video Conference Gear. His company offers electronic, collaborative, digital signage and video conferencing solutions. “I got great advice and counselling from my Xero-certified accounting partners. Now my cash flow has never been stronger and I can focus on my customers around the globe.”

According to our data, over 60% of the invoices you send will end up overdue. This means cash that should be available in your business is out there waiting for collection.

Attaching a payment option to your online invoice helps you get paid up to 80% faster than invoices that don’t have a pay now option. With Apple Pay your customers can pay their invoice with Touch ID. No more searching for their credit card or manually entering payment details in order to pay you.

You can also save time with your bank reconciliation. All transactions from Apple Pay will be automatically entered and matched against invoices in Xero.

The added security of Apple Pay

Online security is a big deal. So is being able to verify the payments you’re receiving from customers. Small businesses can end up footing the bill for a stolen credit card when the bank claims the charges back. Losing money that was already in the bank is a blow to any business.

With Apple Pay, you can rest easy knowing that Apple has verified that payment using Touch ID. This will not only help decrease fraud, it can also help you decrease the amount of chargebacks during the holiday season.

Don’t chase invoices again

With customers able to pay you instantly when they open an online invoice, you can spend less time chasing payments and spend more time on your business. Still have unpaid invoices? Turn on Invoice Reminders and have them prompted automatically when their invoice is overdue. With the entire process automated, you can set and forget your invoicing and never have to worry about not getting paid.

Stripe and Apple Pay will not only save you time this holiday season, they will also let you rest easy that the payments you receive will stay in the bank. The only question left is what you will do with all those newfound hours.

Stripe and Apple Pay are available in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Singapore and Ireland. From January 2017 Stripe will be available in NZ so Xero customers can take advantage of Apple Pay.

Alliotts in Auckland are Xero Gold Champion Partners. Contact us for a free trial and to speak to one of our Xero certified advisors about how to get the most out of Xero for your business.